Juncture
by Izzu
Summary: AU. Post Episode 6. What if that time the elevators actually worked and Noriko and Yoshida hadn't managed to drive away with Yumehito.


az: R&R as usual. I wrote another AU. Just when I was trying not to write this because I always had this urge to get the siblings being all so close.

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Juncture

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izumi

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The truck shook violently, the moment when the impact had arrived. She turned towards Yoshida to see him gasping out of relief. If they had anticipated the angle of the fall to be slightly off...!

Both of them hurried themselves towards the back of the truck but before they could do anything, Noriko overheard sounds of footsteps coming from the nearby stairway exit. Noriko cursed under her breath._ Were the elevators still working? _She thought she had already taken care of that earlier...

She hastily stopped Yoshida from reaching out towards Ainosuke as she ushered him to leave.

"But... aren't we taking Yumeto-san? And there's still Ainosuke-kun up there..."

"No time. And we can't take _both_ of them; it would attract unnecessary attention towards us. We'll pick him up a bit later then," she said as both of them left the area hastily, just as Sayama Hitomi and Kato Takashi burst out from the other exit.

xxx

Kato climbed up the back of the truck as he immediately found both Ainosuke and Sakisaka. Ainosuke was unconscious but Sakisaka was barely aware as he tried to check on him.

"Sakisaka? Are you okay?" he asked as it did not appear as if he heard him.

Sakisaka's eyes were unfocused and he could see a trail of blood running from the side of his mouth as his partner appeared trying to get up, despite him being in great pain. Kato hastily stopped him from moving any more than he did.

"Stop. You might worsen your injuries... Ainosuke-kun was all right. Don't you worry about him!"

That seemed to stop his partner from fidgeting anymore as Sakisaka appeared relieved enough to actually let himself pass out. Kato frowned. Even when Ainosuke had suddenly grabbed him to jump off the building to kill themselves, Sakisaka did not appear to be angry at the boy. Instead, he still tried to protect him!

_So what was it that Ainosuke been thinking earlier?_

Kato glanced down towards Sayama-sensei as he could hear the sound of ambulance heading towards their directions.

"Both of them were alright, Sayama-sensei!" he hollered at her but that did nothing to calm her worries...

xxx

Ainosuke opened his eyes towards the white ceiling of the hospital room and the beeping sounds of the monitors nearby.

"Eh? Why am I here?"

Ainosuke tried to get up but couldn't muster enough strength to do it. He turned his head towards one side just as Kato entered the room, glad that he'd finally woken up.

"Ainosuke-kun? You're finally awake?"

Kato gave out a loud cry before sighing. "Thank goodness. You know you've got everyone worried about you! Sayama-sensei cried all day and had called on your name for so many time! Why did—"

"Kato-san... Sakisaka-san—"

Kato just cocked his head towards one direction as Ainosuke turned his head to his left to find the other bed in the room being occupied by his older brother. If he was there, that should mean he's still...

"What were you thinking at that time? You know, Detective Miyamoto... thought it might be because you had been panicking while trying to defuse the bomb and because of that you had been confused. But really... why did you tried to attack Sakisaka? Did you know? Even after what you did, Sakisaka... tried his best to protect you from harm—"

Ainosuke shrugged to himself.

"Perhaps... I _had_ been confused. Yeah—eh, what did you just said, Kato-san?"

He turned towards Kato as the man sighed at him.

"I said... Sakisaka had been taking most of the brunt of the fall for you. Both of us saw it... and when I reached both of you, he was barely conscious enough to keep holding on to you before he also passed out." said the man before remembering that Ainosuke needed to rest. "Ah, Ainosuke... sorry. I'll be at the hallway if you need me. If Sakisaka woke up as well, call me."

Ainosuke nodded at him weakly as he watched Kato walk out of the room, closing the door behind him. He turned his head towards the second bed as Ainosuke watched his still-unconscious older brother.

"_Brother... let's die together!"_

"_Why? When we haven't yet found the chisel?"_

He could have sworn that his brother had talked about a chisel. What chisel? Was there something that he had missed earlier?

_Heh!_

He could have just ask his brother_ now_, if only he was also awake. Ainosuke stared towards Yumehito's face. It was the same look he had seen that time before he had gone through that eye operation. Had he ever seen his brother having this kind of cold appearance before?

Never.

It was not like he had never watch his brother asleep before. But this kind of expression, as if even in his sleep he could not let his guard down. Ainosuke held his breath as he watched his brother stir, but remained sleeping. His face was now tilted slightly towards him as several strands of his bangs slid pass his forehead. Despite the cold appearance, his brother appeared slightly vulnerable in this light. Ainosuke wondered about what Kato had told him earlier. Did brother really tried his best to cushion his fall? Was that why his injuries were not as bad as his brother's? Didn't that mean that his brother still cared about him?

Then... why did he do all these things? Was there any meaning at all to everything that he had done? If the old brother that he know still existed inside this person lying on the bed before him, then why?

_Why did everything have to happen as it did right now?_

xxx

Yume opened his eyes slowly, finding himself in a hospital room. He glanced sideways as he spotted Ainosuke on the other bed, asleep while facing his direction. Of course, they have just fallen from on top of some building. It should be obvious as to why both of them were at the hospital now. He snorted.

Slowly, he pushed himself up into a sitting position despite how his body had protested. He frowned, ignoring the agonizing pain on his body right now. There would still be an inquiry after this, there's no way things like this going to be shoved aside. Ah well, it'll just mean that his time spent amongst the side of the police had come to an end now. Not like it was much of a hindrance. He pulled out the wires attached to his body before reaching out to grab his clothes to changed out of the hospital garment he was wearing.

Yumehito flinched as he stood up, there would be a hell of a walk downstairs in his condition right now. Hopefully, there won't be that many people walking about around this hour. He grabbed his phone as he walked away from his bed. He paused as he reached Ainosuke's bed.

He ran his hand over Ainosuke's head as he leaned over to kiss the forehead. He gently picked up the blanket that had been kicked aside as he covered Ainosuke's body properly. He smiled as he gently ran his fingers over Ainosuke's cheek.

"Get well quickly. You still had a lot to do after this."

Seeing that he was done over here, Yume quietly slid out of the room without a sound as he made his way out towards the exit. He almost swore as he saw Kato still awake, talking with some of the hospital personnel. Luckily, Miyamoto saw him and continued to steer Kato away from his escape path as Yume struggled his way through towards the hospital exit.

Outside, he counted his blessings that he had worn his overcoat as the night was as usual, freezing cold. It was a matter of time before a familiar car drove pass him and he climbed in, finally welcoming the rest that he had started to look forward to...

xxx

Ainosuke woke up to find it was already morning, but still very early. He tried to glance towards his brother before sitting up abruptly, seeing that he was already gone. He frowned as his finally noticed that he had a blanket covering him.

_Could it be brother...?_

Ainosuke sighed. So he was back into this game of cat and mouse again. His brother had left, it must mean that his plan was still continuing. It would also mean he have no time lazing about at the hospital. He sighed as a nurse came in and started raising the alarm the moment she noticed the missing patient.

It's a start of a new day again...


End file.
